The British painter has made Nepal her home for the past 20 years, drawing Nepali faces. A collection of these paintings and drawings came out in the book, Faces of Nepal, which has gone into a second edition. Recently, Jan put up an exhibition of her "Faces of Nepal" series of paintings along with another called "All Our Daughters".

The latter represents her departure from being a pure artist to an activist. And the exquisitely fine paintings of Nepali women reflect her concerns about girls being sold to India. "I wish to highlight the issue through my paintings," says Jan, who stayed throughout the exhibition, guiding and explaining the issues to visitors.
The other cause that Jan has taken to heart is the plight of Kathmandu\'s street dogs. She has campaigned strongly to stop the municipality\'s poison campaign to get rid of dogs, and favours care and support for the stray animals. No wonder, Jan\'s home is full of cats and dogs that she has rescued from Kathmandu\'s the streets oval the years.

Jan is one of the rare artists who can capture the humanity, compassion and tolerance that shine on Nepali faces. It is perhaps her understanding of these very characteristics that come through so well in her paintings that she doesn\'t sell them. She says they are part of Nepal\'s heritage and that they should not leave the country. Her wish is to donate these paintings to Nepali institution which will put them up for permanent display.